“Civil society must push for self-regulation by media”

KOLKATA: Concerned over disturbing trends in the media, including commercialisation and trivialisation of content, corporatisation of the sector and the phenomenon of paid news, the call for a “media watch group” was made at a round table discussion on “Markets, Media and Democracy” here on Tuesday.

“There is a need for a public auditing of the media, declaration of the revenue earned and checking on fraudulent news. It would be done best if media professionals were to do it themselves,” said Amiya Bagchi, Director, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, which organised the two-day event with UNICEF.

Civil society must pressure the media to enforce this self-regulation and scrutiny, he added. “Nobody wants to muzzle or police the media.” The participants felt there should be no external control on the media.

However, the media as a fourth pillar of democracy must be accountable to the people, said Sharmila Tagore, Chairman of the Censor Board of Film Certification and a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.